EdTechie PLN

no software to download; easy enough for students!  

 the one stop online shop for all your locally sourced artisanal grocery needs. They offer everything from BBQ Pulled Pork (from Phoenix) to Zesty Peach Marmalade (made in Erwin, NC).Unlike other web-based grocery services, Foodzie doesn't hawk mass-market consumer goods. Rather, it provides access to small-scale gourmet producers and growers across the country, shipping goods directly from producers rather than some large-scale grocer's freezer. At present, Foodzie features products from 228 producers across the country. Each producer profile includes a "story," giving buyers a sense of who they are and how much passion they put into their wares. Have a favorite producer you don't see on the site? Suggest it. (The Foodzie folks encourage user feedback). 

a verbal mash-up of the words "group" and "coupon"-is one that's legit, and full of stuff you'll enjoy.  Their offer is simple: one deal every day for each of the 30 U.S. cities they support. These are typically deeply discounted rates for services offered by local businesses (meals, custom-made shirts, museum tickets, Pilates classes, etc.).Once you enter the specific city you're registered in, you'll see that day's deal, the retail value, the discount, and your savings.  You click on the deal to buy it and then they email you the "groupon," which you redeem when you receive your service.There is a small catch:  If not enough people sign up for a given deal, it doesn't happen.  This encourages each user to invite friends into the mix (these are group discounts, after all). Near as we can tell most of the deals go through, and there's no cost if one doesn't, so the downside is minimal.  

14 tools to Teach about Creative Commons

from Free Technology for Teacehrs Digital storytelling guru Kevin Hodgson has recently launched a new website all about stopmotion movie creation. Kevin developed Making Stopmotion Movies as a how-to resource for teachers who are interested in having students create stopmotion movies. On Making Stopmotion Movies teachers will find downloadable storyboard and character development guides. Kevin provides an excellent outline of the whole movie making process. Visitors to Making Stopmotion Movies will also find video examples of real student productions. Below you will find one of the videos from Making Stopmotion Movies. Applications for EducationIf you've wanted to try a stopmotion or claymation movie project in your classroom, but you weren't sure how to get started, Making Stopmotion Movies should get you off on the right foot.

from Free Technology for Teachers eClips videos are arranged by grade level; K-5, 6-8, and 9-12. There is also a section labeled for the general public. The videos are short clips designed to show students the work NASA is doing and how that work impacts space science as well as its potential impact on everyday life. All of the videos can be viewed online or downloaded for use on your local computer.

"online mad-libs"

list of teacher resource website 

 PassPack, a free, secure password-management tool that allows you to organize your passwords and access all your password-protected sites with one click.Once you create an account (using a secure code that not even the site has access to) you add your various passwords and PIN numbers under the Passwords tab. (You can enter up to 100 for free).  The site will also help you generate secure passwords and offers encryption tools.After you create a PassPack bookmark for a specific page (your Amazon account, say), the site will automatically log you in when you visit.You can also use Passpack to record and maintain data on your frequent-flier miles, warranties, and other PINs.And, for those times when you're not using your own computer they offer the ability to create disposable passwords.

HCS elementary lab hope page

K12 Online Conference Sarah Sutter presented a great story of her classroom blogging experience. In the presentation Sarah covers everything from her first steps toward getting students blogging two years ago through today. If you're looking for ideas about using blogs in education, Sarah's presentation is well worth eighteen minutes of your time. You can find supporting materials for Sarah Sutter's K12 Online Conference presentation here.

from "Developing Critical Thinking  through Web Research Skills", an ebook by Bing/Microsoft

a service that organizes your flights, car rentals and hotel bookings, storing them all in one easy-to-access place (i.e. your phone).Just sign up for a free account and begin adding your upcoming trips. You can either input information manually or simply forward travel confirmation emails to the site and they'll do it for you. (We like the latter route since we're a tad lazy).   While the site is useful, what really makes this service sing is the iPhone app, which features a host of additional features, including maps to get you to the airport and seat plans of the plane you'll be flying. In other good news, TripIt recently teamed up with Yapta (as covered in Netted, Yapta helps assure you get low-priced airfares). Now when you forward flight confirmation emails to TripIt,Yapta can track your for lower ticket prices or refunds with a single click. If your airfare dips they'll help you get a refund for the difference. You can also share travel plans with friends (when you register it searches your address book and Facebook account for other TripIt users). That way, if somebody you know is also going to be in, say, Maui, you'll be able to connect with them, and you'll know their itinerary (and vice versa).

 a peer-to-peer clothing exchange that lets you trade items with other people who also want to clean out their closets.When you sign up you answer a series of questions (do you live in the city or suburbs? how large is your closet?) that determine how much you have in the way of unwanted clothing and what the "value" of your closet is. From there you add the items you want to trade to your virtual closet, listing the size, brand, color and condition. Then you tell them what you're looking for, again specifying brands and sizes. The system uses an algorithm to match your preferences with other users. Once a swap is engaged you send your items using pre-paid envelopes (they come in packets of three for $25; the service is otherwise free). If you feel a little odd about taking somebody else's used clothing, rest assured that threUP claims most of their users only trade new or "like new" items.  In addition there's rating system that helps maintain quality control (it also allows the system to find good matches for you).

a great new service called GoodGuide, which reveals what's really beneath the labels of 70,000 products, including food, toys, personal care items and household products.The site offers a massive database of product reviews, expert advice and brand rankings, evaluating supposedly healthy products based on their personal, environmental and social impact.  You can search for a specific product or browse by category. Dive into a sub-category-household cleaners, say-and you'll see a ranked list of all the products they review (every product is given a ranking out of 10), starting with the top ranked.   Click on a specific product and you're taken to a page that has detailed ratings, information on the ingredients, user reviews and a host of details about what goes into the overall ranking.In addition to these thorough reviews, the site has relevant articles and issue guides. They also have a free iPhone app that allows you to scan the barcodes of various products when you're at the store for health and environmental ratings.

customizable random team generator

Now there's a new browser add-on called Invisible Hand that makes this a seamless, automatic part of your shopping experience. Once downloaded, Invisible Hand sits unobtrusively on your browser bar.  As you shop it provides a discreet notification when the product you're searching for can be bought for a lower price elsewhere. works with both Firefox and Google Chrome

Geni, a free genealogy service that works by tapping the collected wisdom of your relatives.To begin, simply add information about yourself and at least one of your parents. (You can enter photos, birthdays and a myriad of custom facts for every person you add).   To increase the size of your tree, include as many people as you can. (Since the entire application is Flash-based, reorganizing your branches is as simple as dragging and dropping). Whenever a family member is added that person is invited to view the tree and--this is the key part--supply details about themselves and other relatives.   This collaborative aspect is one of the site's main strengths. (You can also merge trees when you find a common ancestor). When you've built your genealogical base you can share it via the site's social networking tools. One feature we like is their Statistics app, which turns family data (oldest and youngest members, age distribution, life expectancy, most frequent birth months, political views, etc.) into colorful nerdy pie charts.

a guide to coffee shops that have free Internet access (though they also take into account the number of power outlets and 3G reception). At the moment they rank some 300 coffee shops in North America, the UK and Australia. The list is not huge, but that's because it only has cafés they or their readers have first hand experience with. You can search by city or postal code (or choose from a roster of cities on their home page). The iPhone app detects your location to automatically find the nearest free wi-fi and power-ready laptop friendly café.  (And it will show you on a map, and provide directions).

alternative to Wordle w/ options!